Parking Brake Troubles

Hey Gang, my Tacoma is at the shop getting rear brakes done and the parking brake fixed. The parking brake doesn't work at all...when you pull the handle it does nothing. The shop called and said the rear brakes are replaced but the parking cable is frozen up and won't move and they said I need to have the parking brake cables replaced.
Is there another way to free up the cables without having to have them replaced??
You would think the only place corrosion would creep in would be where it connects inside the rear drum assembly.
They also said my front brakes have seized pistons in the calipers and that it was super common on "these Toyota" trucks. I hadn't heard that before....is that BS or true?

 

depending on where you are at, it might just be rusted solid. you can try spraying penetrating oil in it and whacking it with a hammer some to see if you can loosen it up. but i would say pick up some new cables and be done with it.

 

They said it was a big job to replace them because they would have to pull the center console out to do it. It looks like the brake cable is in a rubber sleeve so not sure where it would rust except maybe in the drum assembly..?
I DO live in the NorthEast so maybe this is normal up here. But this is the first time I've had brake issues with Tacomas....and I've owned a lot of them.

 

I don't think it's that big of a job. I just adjusted my parking brake a couple days ago and you can get to everything by popping the top cover off the center console. Took about ten minutes start to finish.

You have to pull the rear drums off and remove the shoes I believe to get the wheel end installed.

 

Absolutely not a big job.
There are three parking brake cables. The one from the pedal to under the center console is likely fine. Then there is a passenger and driver side cable from there back to the drums.

It's like 4 bolts and give it a tug to remove the center console. Takes 10 minutes to do the first time and 5 every time after that. Literally takes me longer to get all the junk out of my armrest than it does to remove the whole thing.

There are a handful of bolts per cable that hold each one in place as they run back to the drums.

Unfortunately the new shoes and hardware they just put in has to come back out to do this, but again, none of this majorly time consuming or difficult.

Now the problem you will run I to is that those two cables are on national backorder, so you'll either be waiting a while or going with non OEM parts.

 

As stated above, not a big job to get to the inside parts. Just take note of the current adjustment before taking apart. Being you are in the NE you'll probably fight some rust under the truck though. A ratcheting 10mm wrench is a must for the bolts / brackets into the frame under the cab.

Your issue is probably right where the cable(s) enter the backing plate. Those are prone to separating which lets the calcium shit get into the cable

 

Good to know! Thank you!

 

Ah man, I was hoping to get OEM parts...that seems to be a big problem still....getting parts. Thanks for the info!